It is not every day that one gets to see a pair of Green Iguanas sunning themselves on a bush from close range.  But, as I have already shown in one of my two posts about visiting Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, that is exactly what the boat load of birders I was with got [...]

It took several days in Florida for the idea that I was pretty much surrounded by giant reptiles that could kill me to sink in to my brain. And, no, I am not referring to the Republican presidential candidates who were stumping through the state trying to gin up votes in the primary election which [...]

As I may have mentioned before, I have been spending an occasional hour or so doing the auto loop at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, better known as Brigantine.  One of the amazing aspects of Brigantine in late spring is the sheer volume of turtles one can encounter.  On a single trip I [...]

New York City is well known as a city of immigrants so it makes sense that the only lizards living within the five boroughs are immigrants as well.  Our northern winters and highly developed landscape make New York City inhospitable to most species of lizard and it is no surprise that the two species that [...]

A little bird told me this week that you are all rather interested in the sea snakes that we come across on the beaches here whilst observing shorebirds. They are usually washed up after rough weather and are often injured/sick or pregnant. Where it is possible we make every effort to return them to the sea, [...]

I spent a great day yesterday (Saturday, 29 May) visiting a variety of parks in Orange County and Rockland County in downstate New York with a fellow Queens birder, Seth, and a Rockland County birder, Gene.  Though, really, to call either of them “birder” doesn’t give a complete picture of what they are about considering [...]

When I was in Kazakhstan way back in May there were several species of lizard we spotted that I have neglected to write about for 10,000 Birds, which is a shame because they are pretty cool lizards, as most lizards tend to be.  Three of the four were spotted near one of the two waterholes [...]

In my walk around Jamaica Bay today I saw many cool birds, some neat bugs, and, best of all, a Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) burying her nest.  Unfortunately for her eggs, she chose to bury them right in front of a bench on the trail around the West Pond (a not uncommon occurrence at Jamaica [...]

One of the coolest and most confiding reptiles I’ve encountered in the tropics is the Striped Basilisk Lizard (Basiliscus vittatus). This remarkable little monster is also known as the Brown Basilisk, but it shares a more glamorous nickname and ability with other lizards in its genus. The genus Basiliscus, in the same family as iguanas, [...]